Montana woman plays dead after tripping over while she was running from a charging bison in Yellowstone National Park

A Montana woman played dead to avoid injury when she fell in front of a charging bison at Yellowstone National Park.   

The woman can be seen in a video which was shot at Nez Perce Creek at the Wyoming section of the national park. 

In the clip, people off-screen can be heard screaming as two people - the woman and what appears to be a man - are seen running away from two charging bison. 

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The Montana woman can be seen running away from the charging bison (left), before she trips and falls to the ground (right) where she immediately plays dead

As the closer bison nears, the woman trips and falls to the grass. She lays completely still while the bison, within a fraction of the second, catches up to her position. 

'Play dead! Play dead!' people can be heard screaming at her as the bison prances around her body and eventually moves away from her. 

Cloie Musumecci, who sent in the video to MTN, said that the woman who was being chased by the bison 'is a Montana local so she knew to play dead in that situation.'

The quick-thinking woman, who was not identified, was then able to escape 'without a scratch,' Musumecci said, according to KBZK. 

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The woman doesn't move even when the bison catches up to her and practically stands on her

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After a short time, the bison appears to lose interest and begins to turn away from the woman

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The incident took place at Nez Perce Creek at the Wyoming section of the Yellowstone park

It's unclear from the video what set the bison off or how close to them the two people were before the bison started charging at them. 

It's also unclear when the incident occurred.  

Yellowstone allows its bison to to roam relatively freely across the park, according to its website. The bison population haven't been interbred with cattle like most other bison herds and exhibit wild behavior like their ancestors. 

Yellowstone bison have a history of attacking park visitors or their cars, often after they get too close. 

In late June, a 72-year-old woman from California was caught on video as she got far too close - within 10 feet - to a wandering bison at the park. The woman was gored by the bison, which also flung her between 10 to 15 feet into the air during the attack, witnesses told WCCO.  

'Bison are wild animals that respond to threats by displaying aggressive behaviors like pawing the ground, snorting, bobbing their head, bellowing, and raising their tail,' Yellowstone’s senior bison biologist Chris Geremia told Time after the woman's attack. 

'If that doesn’t make the threat (in this instance it was a person) move away, a threatened bison may charge. To be safe around bison, stay at least 25 yards away, move away if they approach, and run away or find cover if they charge.'